Murder angle in BJP leader’s wife case in Lucknow

A day after BJP city youth wing president’s wife was found shot dead in mysterious circumstances in her Madiaon residence, the police on Monday changed IPC sections to investigate the case as that of murder.

Manisha, 30, wife of Bharatiya Janata Party leader Vinay Pratap Singh, was found dead in her Pritinagar house in Madiaon with two bullet injury marks on her back and one on her temple. Initially, cops thought it was suicide, but probe suggested it wasn’t.

“Primary leads in the case suggest it was murder and we are working on the case,” said SSP J Ravindra Gaur.

Police said a family dispute might have been the reason behind the murder. Manisha died under mysterious circumstances as three bullets were fired but none of the neighbours heard the gunshots.

Manisha’s brother, Amit, who lives in the same house, was the first to sense the tragedy when he called up his sister for some work but got no response. As Vinay and his son were out of the house, Amit got suspicious and rushed back home. He found the doors locked except one. When Amit entered the house, he saw the body in the bathroom.

Meanwhile, the BJP targeted the Samajwadi Party government over the incident in Lucknow. Party spokesman Vijay Bahadur Pathak demanded immediate arrest of the assailants and slammed the police for initially describing the murder as suicide.

“When the cops are behaving like this in the state capital, one can well imagine how bad the situation is across the state,” he said. Pathak said the role of those policemen who tried to water down the case should also be probed.